An Overriding Interest

Attorney Ron Bamberger’s old friend named a horse after him -- Lawyer Ron, he called the steed -- then died and left Bamberger as executor of his estate.

On Thursday, two days before the Kentucky Derby, the real Lawyer Ron made what amounted to a bet against his namesake and sold a partial interest in the horse, one of the favorites in the 132nd Run for the Roses.

A stipulation of the seven-figure deal -- which includes breeding rights -- is that the horse will continue to race in the blue-and-white silks of the late James T. Hines Jr., who died in February at his Kentucky home in what was ruled an accidental drowning.

“Wearing the silks in the Kentucky Derby was not negotiable,” said Bamberger, who would not disclose the value of the deal or the percentage of ownership that was acquired by Audrey Haisfield, co-owner of Stonewall Farm near Versailles, Ky.

Caught between the duty of an executor to maximize the value of the estate and the emotional ties to his late friend and the horse that bears his own name, Bamberger chose what he called “the best interest of the estate.”

“I did not do what Jim Hines would have done,” Bamberger said. “Jim Hines would never even have sold 1% of this horse. I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t gamble with estate money.

“We full well believe the horse will win the Derby. But you can have the best horse here and not win the Kentucky Derby.

“Selling the horse is a way to take some of the chips off the table. All you have to do is look at the board. The odds are 4 to 1 against.”

Although he was not bound to consult Hines’ children -- only three of Hines’ six adult children are heirs under the terms of the will -- Bamberger said he did.

Laine Nunn -- a daughter of Hines, who grew up poor but made a fortune in metal stamping -- earlier had joked that their father would haunt them if they sold.

Said one of Hines’ sons, Jim Hines III, before the sale, “We told Ron our wish was to see it all the way through to the Derby. But he has a responsibility to the estate, and that’s supposed to be in a conservative manner. Well, betting on a horse isn’t very conservative. But there’s no way Dad would have sold, I know that.”

Ultimately, Bamberger said, he received the approval of the heirs of the estate, the bulk of which will be held in a long-term trust to be managed by Bamberger, though the horse business will be largely dissolved.

“They concluded this was in the best interest of all of them,” Bamberger said.

Should Lawyer Ron -- the Arkansas Derby winner and one of two second favorites in the race behind Brother Derek -- win the Kentucky Derby, he would claim a winner’s share of more than $1.4 million and his value as a racehorse and future sire as he pursues the Triple Crown would spike sharply upward.

If he were to run poorly, of course, his value would go down.

A chestnut colt who started his career poorly on the turf but has won six in succession on dirt, Lawyer Ron is not the first Derby contender to be sold as the first Saturday in May approached.

War Emblem, for instance, was sold for a reported $1 million weeks before the Derby in 2002, then went on to win the Derby and the Preakness before he was eventually sold to stand stud for $17 million.

Lawyer Ron’s current value, including breeding rights, was estimated at roughly $6 million by the Daily Racing Form.

Bamberger would only say the deal was worth considerably more than the $1-million deal for War Emblem, which did not include breeding rights.

“I think it’s fair to say it’s worth more than that,” he said. “Much more, we’ll put it like that.”

Hines liked to name horses after friends and family, naming one Jamie The Duke after his son Jim, and another Elusive Josh after another son. Nor was Lawyer Ron the first horse Hines named after his attorney.

“He named one Bamberger,” Bamberger said. “After the horse ran and didn’t do too well, didn’t seem to have his mind on his business, he decided they needed to geld him. He just thought that was the funniest thing in the world.”

A diabetic who also had liver and pancreas problems, Hines was in poor health in the months before his death and never saw his prized colt, trained by 71-year-old Bob Holthus, race in person.

Holthus said, “I said, ‘You’ve got to go get your exercise. That’s a long walk from the backside at Churchill before the Kentucky Derby.’

“He said, ‘You really think he can go to the Derby?’ I was mostly kidding at the time.”

On the morning of Feb. 21, Hines’ housekeeper arrived for work at his home near Owensboro, Ky., and found her employer dead at 69 in his covered indoor pool.

“We all knew he wasn’t in good health, but you didn’t expect him to fall in the pool and drown,” Holthus said. “He could have had a stroke, a diabetic coma.... Whatever, he ended up in the pool.”

Daviess County Coroner Bob Howe ruled the death accidental.

“I think he went to put his feet in the heated pool and slipped and was unable to get out,” Howe said. “He was in a weakened condition. He had problems with his feet. He laid his shoes down, took them off, I think, to put his feet in the water. It was a covered pool, but there was an open area near the steps. I think he somehow slipped.

“Mr. Hines did have a drinking problem. However, his blood-alcohol level was not that high, .036. He didn’t have any type of injury that would have been consistent with foul play. He was in a private home. The door was locked. There’s nothing to indicate this was intentional. It seems like an unfortunate accident.”

Bamberger said Lawyer Ron’s run has both helped ease and prolonged the grief that he and the family feel.

“He wanted to have a horse run in the Derby,” Bamberger said. “It is an emotional ride right now, knowing that was one of his desires. He got so close, but he didn’t quite make it.”